Ash of the Void
by Alopex Teumesios
Summary: Nero Cenere is many things. Orphan, gutter-rat, thief and escape artist. But he has never been a familiar before. So when he finds himself becoming just that to the very kind of girl he stole from he knows is in way over his head. But that is where his other occupations come in. After all, when you're at the bottom the only way to go is up and Nero excels at climbing.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

A class full of students were running around the courtyard like headless chickens while their middle-aged, balding teacher was trying his best to restore order. The reason for this? A girl had just tried reaching through the very fabric of space and time to grab herself a glorified pet.

That, however, was not so much the cause of the aforementioned 'headless chicken' dance so much as it was the catalyst for it. For you see, the girl was not the only one to have thrown aside the rules of physics to find herself a pet, every other student had done so already. So what _is_ the cause you ask?

The very large monstrous looking scorpion with pure black skin, bone-white, chitinous armour, evil red eyes and markings that seemed to _glow_ and a pretty gold stinger that was considerably _less_ pretty as it was leaving craters in the ground while it's owner tried to skewer it's next meal.

"Students! Get behind me!" The teacher called, years of combat experience showing through. "Earth mages, set up a barrier around the monster! Wind mages and any fast runners, get the headmaster and any other teachers you can find! Water mages, get to a safe distance and tend to the injured!"

The students immediately scrambled to follow his order, the authority in his voice brooking no argument. "What about us Professor?" Asked a busty, dark skinned red head.

The balding professor did not need to ask who she meant by 'us'. He had deliberately left out the fire mages in his orders still debating whether or not he should let children fight a monster of this magnitude. Quickly making up his mind he barked another command.

"Fire mages, you're with me. Hit it as hard as you can but don't expend too much Willpower. Save enough for you to run if things get bad."

"Can do Professor," said the red head with a grin. She and a few other students lined up their wands and cast the most powerful spells they knew but got nothing for their efforts but some scorch marks and a pissed of monstrosity. A pissed off monstrosity with its legs trapped in ice.

"Miss Tabitha? I thought I told the wind mages to get help," Colbert questioned.

"More helpful here," came the soft spoken reply of the blue haired girl. She didn't even turn to look at him or pause in casting her spells at the monster as she answered. Seeing the she was more of a warrior than a messenger he decided he could let her insubordination slide.

 _'_ _Insubordination? When did I start thinking like that about my students?'_ Professor Colbert asked himself. "Very well. You all know the basics of team casting? One half chants while the other half casts." He got some murmurs of assent from his students as they heeded his instruction once again. All but one.

A petite, pink haired young girl had been dragging, a surprisingly heavy, black-clad boy out of harm's way while everyone else had been panicking but now that he was, more or less, safe behind their, equally surprisingly, combat capable teacher she spoke up.

"Mr. Colbert. What do I do?" She asked, eager to help.

"Just stand back Miss Valliere, try to help that boy up, it'll be better for everyone if he's conscious," Colbert replied, attention still fixed on the battle at hand.

"But that's my familiar," Miss Valliere argued. "Shouldn't I try to calm it down?"

"Obviously if you were capable of that it wouldn't have gone crazy the moment it showed up Louise," taunted the red head.

"Shut up Zerbst! You're just jealous because my familiar is better than yours," Louise shot back still slapping the boy who had been dragged along with her familiar in an attempt to wake him up.

"Oh yes, _so_ much better having already killed three familiars and wounding as many students."

"Enough you two! Focus! Zerbst, you focus on the fight, Valliere, you focus on the boy," commanded Colbert.

"Yes, Sir," came the autonomous response. Both girls immediately returned to their assigned duties. One continued casting _'Fireball'_ while the other shouted-

"Wake Up!"

This prompted a rather immediate response from the boy who suddenly jerked awake. "Gah! I'm up, I'm up!" He said, now more or less alert.

"Good. Can you stand?" Asked Louise, getting up herself.

"Yeah, I can. What's the situation?" The boy asked, immediately reading the situation.

"You have to move, commoners can't fight a monster like this," she explained, immediately identifying him as a commoner and thus, a hindrance in the fight.

"Yeah, you're right," he said, misunderstanding what she had meant. "So get everyone out of here while I take out that Deathstalker."

"What? Are you-" before she could finish the boy had already rushed right into the fray.

"What are you doing!?" Came half a dozen voices. The boy ignored all of these as he ran around the Deathstalker to flank it and avoid getting caught in friendly fire.

"You just keep distracting it, I've got a plan," he said jumping onto the Deathstalker's tail.

"Are you crazy!? Get down from there!" Cried Colbert. The boy ignored him as he summoned a small, round object into his hand. A moment later he was shoving it into the joint where the Deathstalker's stinger met the rest of the tail.

"Fire in the hole!" he shouted as he jumped off the Deathstalker's tail in a stylish backflip and landing in an awkward backwards roll.

Not a moment later and an almighty _*Kaboom*_ came from the Deathstalker's tail, right in the joint between the stinger and the tail, completely blowing the stinger clean off and driving it through the Deathstalker's armour, body and right into the ground beneath it.

The courtyard was quiet as the grave as everyone tried to process _how_ this one _commoner_ had managed to accomplish what a team of mages couldn't. All but one.

" _My familiar!_ " Came a disparaged cry. "You killed it!" Louise accused the black-clad boy.

The boy could think of only one way to respond to that.

"Whatcha talkin' 'bout Willis?"


	2. Do you believe in Destiny?

**_Do You Believe In Destiny?_**

* * *

Destiny was a very busy metaphysical, all encompassing, nigh omnipotent being. The lives of centillions upon centillions of people, places and things rested in her metaphorical hands.

And when you had that kind of pressure placed on your shoulders you couldn't blame a girl for making a few mistakes every once in a while.

"Thomas and Martha Wayne… check. Entire air bender nation… check." Destiny was currently crossing things off her to-do list. Being a quick worker it wasn't long before she got to her final task. Selecting the familiars for the mages of Alfhiem.

She blew through almost all of them with ease but then came one that was different from the others. Louise Francois Le Blanc de la Valliere. The void mage and her destined familiar, Gandalfr.

"Hmm, it's been a while since I've had to do this. Now, what exactly does the Gandalfr need to be this time around?" Destiny looked through a file to find just that. According to the file the previous Gandalfr was tasked with shielding its mage while they cast their relatively long incantations. Oh, and there's a neat little song that describes Gandalfr too:

 _The left hand of God is Gandalfr,  
The ferocious shield of the lord.  
His left hand wields a large sword  
And his right hand wields a long spear,  
Protecting me with endless vigilance._

"Shield of the lord? Wields a sword and spear? Protecting with endless vigilance? I can use that. Now what else is there?" Destiny asked no one in particular as she continued through the file.

According to the file Louise had pretty it rough. She was mocked by her peers for being powerless and she did not appeal to anyone for support or comfort because of some 'Rule of Steel' taught to her by her mother.

This led to her being rude, obnoxious and otherwise unlikeable. That meant it would take a certain kind of person to sympathise and get close to her. That narrowed it down a little.

So far Destiny's criteria for the next Gandalfr consisted entirely of: Good shield, wields a sword and spear, protects with endless vigilance, and possesses limitless patience and unrivalled empathy.

"Now where can I find someone who fits that criteria?" Destiny pondered for a moment before it hit her. "By Monty!"

Literally by Monty as she turned to the world dubbed "Remnant" by its inhabitants and asked Monty if she could borrow someone for a few years. Monty steadfastly refused.

"Come on Monty, it's just for a few years!" Destiny pleaded.

Monty responded by strengthening the dimensional barrier around Remnant.

"Really? You know that won't stop me."

Monty only doubled his efforts.

"Fine then. You leave me no choice." Destiny proceeded to brute force her way through to Remnant.

* * *

Nero stepped off the bullhead and onto solid ground, taking a deep breath of fresh air. That's what this was supposed to be. A breath of fresh air, a clean slate, a new lease on life.

He would take his first step from his old life and dedicate the rest of it to helping others.

"Blargh!"

And why not start now?

"You, uh… you okay there buddy?" Nero asked hesitantly.

"Y-yeah. Just great," said the blonde boy leaning over the trash can as he threw a thumbs up a few feet to Nero's left.

"You want a cracker or something? I hear crackers help with motion-sickness," Nero said pulling a cracker from out of nowhere. The two boys had just gotten off of a Bullhead and Nero had assumed that that was the cause of the other boy's plight.

"Thanks," the blonde boy said accepting the crackers.

"No prob-"

*Boom*

Before their conversation could go any further a large explosion emanated from further along the path.

"Whoa, what was that?" Nero asked.

"I dunn-ugh!" Halfway through his sentence the blonde boy started spewing chunks into the trash can again.

"Uh… Well, you deal with that while I go check out what that explosion was all about," Nero said while dashing off to the source of said explosion.

It didn't take long and upon arriving at the scene he saw a girl clad in white going off at a girl in red. The girl in white he recognised as Weiss Shnee and so stayed out of sight but remained within hearing range so as to find out what was going on.

"So, what's going on?" Asked the blonde boy from earlier.

"Oh, I'm not entirely sure but I think the girl in red blew up and the girl in white is mad at her because of it."

"And what about that girl in black?" Blondie, as Nero had decided to call him, asked.

"Not sure. I guess we wait and see."

After the three girls finished 'talking' they each walked off in different directions with the girl in red simply collapsing on the spot.

"Aww… Poor kid. Look at her all dejected and stuff, we should cheer her up," Nero cheerfully suggested.

"Sure, let's do it," Blondie agreed. The two boys walked towards the girl in red and when they reached her Nero extended his hand.

"Tired already? It's not even noon," Nero quipped. The girl looked up startled and saw the hand Nero had offered.

"It's been a long morning," she replied sheepishly.

* * *

After helping the girl, Ruby as she had identified herself, Nero and Jaune, which was Blondie's real name, had split up with her at the entrance ceremony. Now Nero just had to wait until he could leave and find out just who was watching him.

With so many people around he couldn't discern it immediately but he knew someone was. You didn't get far in his line of work without developing a knack for that sort of thing.

"…You are dismissed." Nero's head perked up as he heard those blessed words from Professor Goodwitch. Then he saw Jaune walk towards Ruby and the girl she claimed was her sister. Nero didn't see the resemblance.

He was about to join them before he heard Jaune speak. "I'm a natural blonde you know," he said, acting suave. It wasn't the heartbreakingly bad attempt at flirting that kept Nero where he was but the girl he was pulling it on.

Seeing that it was none other than Weiss Schnee he immediately spun around and _'noped'_ his way out of there and towards the ballroom. As he made his way there the memory of someone watching him slipped from his mind.

* * *

"There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday! I would have remembered having to count that high." As Jaune continued wandering the locker room Nero spotted it a little ways away. The only problem was, once again, Weiss Schnee.

She was talking to a tall red-headed girl with a devious look on her face and Nero was loathe to approach her, especially while she was like that but he couldn't just hang his new friend out to dry so he pointed it out to him. "It's over there, by your crush," he said.

"Oh yeah. Hey, sweet, Weiss is there," Jaune said, a gleeful tone creeping into his voice.

"Oh no you don't, just get your gear and let's go," Nero said, recognising the look on his face.

"Just give me a minute," Jaune said. "That's all I'll need."

"I'm sorry, are you gonna flirt with her or are you sleeping with her already?" Nero retorted.

"Haha. Watch and learn Nero," Jaune said as he marched towards them confidently.

 _'This oughta be good,'_ Nero thought to himself. Just as he had predicted, Jaune was completely bombing and Nero decided to step in and help him.

"I guess not. Sorry," Jaune said as Nero approached.

"Hey Jaune, quit flirting and get your gear already, initiation starts soon."

"Okay," Jaune said dejectedly as he turned to his locker.

*Sigh* "And who's this?" Weiss asked exasperatedly.

"It's great to see you too _Snow Angel."_ Weiss's eyes narrowed at the nickname while the other girl smirked slightly. "I'm Nero Cenere. No need to introduce yourself of course, everyone knows the Schnees."

"Of course they do," Weiss said haughtily.

"After all, with the way Jaune was going on about you everyone from Vale to Atlas probably knows what colour your underwear is."

"WHAT!" Weiss shrieked. The red-head actually chuckled at this while Jaune let loose a startled _"What?"_ of his own.

"And who might you be?" Nero asked the red-head, looking to change the subject. "I'm, Nero Cenere but you probably heard that already. You look familiar, do I know you from somewhere?"

The girl visibly winced but Nero probably wouldn't have noticed it if he wasn't so good at reading people.

"You're from yesterday's cereal!" Nero said, remembering where he had seen her before.

"Was I?" She asked, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"You dolt. That's Pyrrha Nikos, the three time Mistral Regional Tournament Champion."

"Yeah, I know," Nero told her. "One of my friends has a crush on you," he said turning back to Pyrrha. "Could I send him a picture of us?"

"I… suppose one couldn't hurt," Pyrrha acquiesced.

"Sweet thanks," Nero said gratefully. He pulled out his Scroll and snapped a quick photo of him and Pyrrha. Then he sent to his frind.

 _'Guess who I met today?'_ Nero sent with the text

 _'You son of a bitch!'_ Came the reply.

 _'Suck it Basil.'_ Nero quickly closed his Scroll before Basil could send a reply. "Thanks Pyrrha, I owe you one. I've been waiting to get back at that jackass since our last job."

"It's nothing," she replied.

 _"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliffs for initiation? Again all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."_

"Well, that's our cue," Nero said. "C'mon Jaune," he continued, gesturing to Jaune in the universal _'let's go'_ gesture.

"All right. Let's go," he replied.

With that they all filed out to the cliffs for their initiation.

* * *

Nero was in his natural habitat. Soaring through the air, the wind on his face and the sun on his back. Too bad he would have to end it soon. And end it he did, summoning a glyph that deposited him onto a nearby tree branch.

Looking up, he listened for the sound of high pitched screaming and followed it to its source. Jaune was tumbling through the air as gracefully as a puppet with its string cut and Nero didn't think he had a landing strategy to boot.

That was okay. Nero could make one for him.

Summoning another glyph Jaune fell right into it and came flying through the accompanying one on Nero's end. Along with a red and bronze javelin.

"Agh!" The two boys chorused, Jaune because of his awkward landing on the tree branch and Nero for getting hit with the spear.

"I'm sorry!" A familiar voice cried out from the distance.

"Don't mention it!" Nero yelled back.

"I feel sick," Jaune groaned, still draped across the tree branch.

"Yeah, teleportation can be a little nauseating for the uninitiated but lucky for you that's why we're here. To get initiated." Nero extended a hand to Jaune, helping him up.

"Ugh," Jaune groaned, accepting the offered hand. "Whose is that?" He asked, pointing to the javelin.

"I think it's Pyrrha's," Nero answered. "I think she was trying to save your life with it."

"Save my life by throwing a spear at me? Yeah, that makes sense," Jaune groused.

"Oh, relax. With your Aura she wouldn't have killed you. She was probably just trying to knock you off course or something," Nero placated him.

"Aura?" Jaune asked, clueless.

"Yeah, your Aura," Nero repeated.

"What's that?"

Nero just stared, dumbstruck.

* * *

After a long, extensive talk in the tree branch about Aura and its importance to Huntsman and how Jaune needed it to become one and how Nero was completely baffled about how he got into a combat school without it, Nero and Jaune had descended to the forest floor and headed north.

"But you promise to keep it a secret right?" Jaune pleaded.

"Yes, Jaune. Your secret's safe with me. I promise," Nero assured him. Nero had figured out how Jaune had gotten into Beacon without even having his Aura unlocked and Jaune had begged him not to tell anyone.

"You promise what?" Came a voice from the side.

"Monty!" Nero cried, jumping a foot in the air. "You scared the crap out of me Pyrrha."

Nero was not used to being snuck up on and even if Jaune had been pestering him with pleas for keeping his secret he should have noticed her approaching. That was something he'd have to fix.

"I'm sorry," she replied sheepishly. "May I have Milo back?" She asked, extending her hand.

"Oh, you mean your javelin?" Nero asked. "Here." Nero extended his hand and a glyph appeared and Pyrrha's javelin slid out of it and into his waiting palm. Nero handed it over and Pyrrha took a quick glance at it.

After she was done she asked, "So you two are partners I assume?"

"Yep. First person you make eye contact with. Them's the rules," Nero answered.

"Then would you be opposed to having me until I find a partner?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not at all, Pyrrha," Nero said cheerfully as he marched north.

"Think this is it?" Jaune asked.

"God, I hope not," Nero replied, dark thoughts of what awaited him in the deep, dark, enclosed cave had him spacing out and before he knew it Jaune had lit a torch and he and Pyrrha were already in the cave.

"Hey- wait for me!" He called out to his friends. The duo had made it farther into the cave than he realized and he had to pick up the pace to catch up. No sooner had he done so when Jaune tripped and dropped the torch, extinguishing it.

"Well that's just fucking great," Nero complained loudly, the nervousness apparent in his voice and causing it to rise in pitch a little.

"Uh… Hey what's that?" Jaune asked. "I think that's the relic!" Before Nero or Pyrrha could stop him Jaune had grabbed onto the 'relic' and was lifted up into the air.

Nero and Pyrrha quickly dashed outside and, in the morning light, could see just what Jaune had grabbed onto. The stinger of a giant Deathstalker.

"Jaune! Whatever you do, _don't let-"_ Pyrrha started.

 _"Aaagh!"_ Jaune screamed as he let go.

"Go…" Pyrrha finished weakly. She took one more look at the Deathstalker and chuckled weakly before running in the opposite direction. "Nero, _run!"_

"You go, I'll get it back in the cave," he called back.

" _Are you crazy?"_ She asked, clearly not needing an answer.

"Relax, I got- Oof!" Nero got the wind knocked out of him as he was hit by the Deathstalker's pincer and tumbled right into Pyrrha, knocking them both to the forest floor.

By the time Nero opened his eyes the Deathstalker was already on them and its stinger was cocked back and ready to fall on them.

Nero tried summoning a glyph but he knew it was too little too late. He barely had a fingernail-sized, black speck up before the stinger was a meter from his face. As it turned out though, that speck would be just enough to save his and Pyrrha's lives. Faster than he could blink, and faster than the stinger could cover that last remaining meter the world flashed green.

* * *

Destiny had underestimated Monty. He was young compared to her Eternity but he was strong-willed. Enough that she had been spending some time against his dimensional barrier without making a dent.

But then something happened. A chink in the armour had appeared and it had been placed conveniently close to her intended target.

The slight breach in the dimensional barrier had found itself hijacked by Destiny and, as doors were wont to do, someone walked through it.

In this case, one aspiring Hunter and an ancient evil that was hell-bent on destroying humanity.

One of these things was not what Destiny had in mind. And neither was the other.

 _She had taken the wrong aspiring Hunter._

She could _feel_ Monty smirking as she watched both beings fall through the void.

She thought about trying again. But then she quickly looked at this _Nero Cenere_ she had picked up and thought better of it. He was no Pyrrha Nikos but perhaps he would do.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Wow. This chapter took a long time to come out. Sorry about that, I've been busy. Not much of an excuse but it's as detailed as I want to get so it'll have to do._

 ** _Explanations:_**

 ** _Personification of Destiny:_** _I thought about making it something else but I decided, with the whole 'Pyrrha' thing it was fitting._

 ** _The Void familiar song/Tiffania's song:_** _This is the translation I found on the wiki. If it's wrong in any way feel free to correct me._

 ** _Scene Omissions:_** _You may have noticed I omitted some scenes. I thought about including them but I didn't want to stretch this out with unnecessary exposition._

 ** _Basil:_** _A minor OC to mirror Briseis, Achilles' wife in the myths and, of course, Achilles is Pyrrha's source material so I though it fitting. Basil is also a Greek name, meaning 'strength'._

 ** _Nero Cenere:_** _The big man himself. As you may have seen, which I hope you did because if you didn't that means you haven't read the chapter, Nero uses glyphs much like a certain heiress he isn't particularly fond of.  
That's actually how he came about, as an opposite to Weiss Schnee. 'Weiss' & 'Schnee' mean 'White' & 'Snow' respectively in German. 'Nero' & 'Cenere' mean 'Black' & 'Ash' in Italian.  
Weiss was given her fortune and Nero stole his.  
Weiss is capable of manipulating time and Nero is capable of manipulating space.  
Other things will portray their contrast in the future but you'll just have to wait and see._


	3. Do You Know Where I Am?

**_Do You Know Where I Am?_**

* * *

"Whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?"

"Huh?" The pinkette asked. "Willis? What are you talking about? My name is Louise Francois le Blanc de La Vallière."

"Nice to meet you Louise… French soar… Le... belly… Delhi… Vanilla…"

"..."

"Okay look, I tried, alright? It's not my fault you have such a long name and besides, I still feel like I'm hungover," Nero explained, trying to excuse his social faux pas.

"I'll talk to you later about the familiar you'll have to compensate me for. In the meantime just wait here, shut up and let me talk to my teacher."

"Wow. You that rude to everyone or am I just special?" Louise ignored him as she walked up to Professor Colbert.

"Professor, what do I do now?" While those two discussed business, Nero took it upon himself to take a look around and figure out where he'd been brought. He was no stranger to teleportation, his own semblance granted him the ability, and a few other members of the Thieves Guild had some variants of it too, so he recognised teleportation when he saw it but he'd never been summoned against his will to someplace he'd never been to before, so he needed answers.

"Hey, do you know where I am?" He asked a bored looking redhead.

"Eh? Oh, it's you," she said, perking up at the distraction."You're in the courtyard of Tristan's Magical Academy."

"...Riiight," Nero said, slowly processing what she had just said and seeing that she was completely serious. "Tristain's… Magical Academy… Yeah, that makes sense. I guess. Uh, is that anywhere near Beacon Academy?"

"Beacon Academy? No, I can't say it is," she said. "In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of a 'Beacon Academy'. Do you know, Tabitha?" She addressed that last part to her blue haired friend, whom Nero had noticed was sending him discreet glances from behind her book. Why she was doing this, Nero had yet to confirm but he had his suspicions.

A simple shake of her head confirmed that, no, Tabitha had also never heard of Beacon.

Now, that had Nero worried. Never heard of Beacon? One of, if not the most, prestigious school for Huntsman on Remnant? These girls were either playing some sort of practical joke or they were both more sheltered than Jaune. Looking at the way the redhead was dressed, Nero decided that It was the former and took off to find a more reputable looking fellow to ask.

"Well, thanks anyway," he said the the red and blue haired duo. Then as he turned around to begin his search again he heard a voice. It was the rude pink haired girl again, Louise something-or-other.

 _"I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a familiar."_

Realising that she wasn't talking to him, Nero turned around again to return to his search for answers but as soon as he took his first step a portal appeared before him once more but this time it was along the surface of the ground.

"Agh!" He yelped as he once again fell through the mysterious green portal. Upon coming out of the other end he was once again hit with that feeling of nausea, commonly associated with being hungover, though this time to a lesser extent. "Ugh… What happened?"

While Nero was trying to recollect his bearings the rest of the student body just stood there, gaping.

 _He had been the one summoned? Not that giant scorpion monster?_

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" He said to the pinkette, having realised that she was culprit behind the teleportation portal. "Were you the one who brought me here the first time? What's the big idea?"

Louise, for her part, just stood there, mouth agape and eye twitching.

"What am I doing!? What are you doing!? Not only do you kill my familiar, you ruin my attempt at summoning another one!" It seemed, where most others had realised that the black-clad boy _was_ her familiar, Louise still believed that he was just getting in the way her summoning a real familiar.

That would have to be rectified.

"Miss Vallière…"

"Oh, Professor Colbert, please let me try again. This _peasant_ ," she said, venom dripping from her voice whilst throwing a side-glance at Nero. "is just interfering with my ritual again."

"Um actually Miss Vallière… I believe he _is_ your familiar."

"What?"

"Well think about it," Colbert said. "When you completed the ritual two creatures came out, right? And when a creature comes out, the dazing effect applies itself to the familiar. And only one of the creatures that came through your portal appeared dazed, whereas the other… Well…"

"But… But that's impossible!" Louise cried. "There's no such thing as taking a peasant for a familiar!"

"Well, normally I would be the first to ask you to double check but it appears that you already have," Clobert replied, gesturing to Nero, who was still lying on his side along the grass, apparently having just decided to give up fighting the nausea brought on by the summoning.

"But-" Louise began.

" _Miss Vallière_ ," Colbert barked, steel lacing his voice and the normally ever-present twinkle in his eyes extinguished like a candle in the wind. "Not only have I let you attempt the summoning multiple times, but the moment you succeed you summon a monster and a commoner, putting the latter's life in danger and allowing the former to put all of _our_ lives in danger too."

"But-"

"Now, I know it was not your fault that the monster came through but the truth of the matter is it did and now I have injured students I must attend to, so you'll forgive me if I prioritize _them_ over your concerns about your familiar, _who is right in front of you_."

"But-"

" _No 'Buts'_. If you don't' bind him I will have no choice but to expel you. Now, just go over there and bind him whilst I tend to the injured." With that Colbert spun on his heel and did just that.

Louise sighed as she too turned around to tend to her problems.

"So you really did summon me, huh?" Nero asked as she approached him.

"It would appear so," Louise grumbled.

"Well, I guess I should thank you for that then," Nero said, remaining on the ground, cross-legged and staring into his lap. "That thing probably would have killed me if it hadn't been for you." Upon their summoning the two had been separated during the brief interlude between entering the first portal and exiting the second one.

"Well, you're welcome," Louise replied, sounding anything but gracious.

"How many were hurt?" Nero asked her.

"Not sure," Louise said dismissively, as if she didn't care about the state of her classmates so long as they weren't actually dead. "I think I remember it hitting at least three or four people with its claws when it first appeared."

Nero winced as he recalled how painful it was to get hit by that Deathstalker's pincer. "I guess I should make it up to them."

"Why? It's not like _you_ were the one who summoned it here."

"But I _am_ the one who was _actually_ summoned here. If I had just listened to Pyrrha it wouldn't have followed me here and those students wouldn't be an inches away from death." Louise didn't know who Pyrrha was but she didn't dwell on it too much.

"Marianne! Please, don't go! Stay with me!"

"Antoine, go get the healer, _hurry!"_

Hearing the commotion, Nero and Louise looked up to see what was happening and saw a boy bent over the unmoving body of a girl as a number of water mages did what they could to preserve her life.

"Will she make it?" Nero asked.

"Hard to tell. Perhaps only a quarter of our class are water mages and all of them are busy with other students and none of them are professionals," Louise said with a little more concern in her voice. With that the two looked away to give the party a little more privacy.

"So, I hear you're in the market for a familiar," Nero said, bringing his head up to look Louise right in the eye.

"That's right."

"And I understand that _I'm_ to be your familiar?"

"Unfortunately," Louise grumbled. "I trust you at least know what a familiar _is,_ correct?"

"Sure." Nero was _intimately_ familiar with familiars. Or at least those of the Schnee variety.

"Well, I suppose if I'm staying here anyway I might as well."

"Like you have a choice in the matter," Louise snorted.

"I do," Nero assured her. "I _choose_ to stay here and make it up to the people I hurt. _You,_ on the other hand, _do not_."

"Tch. You had better watch your mouth _peasant_. During your tenure as my familiar I will be your _master_. That means you do as _I_ say."

"I owe you for saving my life and I owe _them_ ," Nero said, jerking his head towards the injured students, "for getting them injured with that Deathstalker I brought with me. But as soon as I feel that I've repaid my debt I will leave."

Louise seemed to mull this over as she considered how to respond. Then, seeming to realise something, she nodded her head. "Very well. You shall be free to go as soon as you have fulfilled your debt to myself and those students you hurt."

"Good," Nero said, nodding. "Now how do we do this, is there some contract I have to sign?"

"Not quite," Louise said, drawing her wand. " _My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar."_

At the end of her chant she leaned down until she was eye-level with Nero and puckered her lips while closing her eyes.

"Uhh… What's going on?" Nero asked, more than a little confused.

" _Shut up_ ," Louise growled, her eyes snapping open. "This is just how the familiar contract is sealed. Do you think I _want_ to lose my first kiss to a _peasant?"_

"This is your first kiss?" Nero asked, quirking an eyebrow. Then sensing opportunity he smiled and said, "Well, if you offer me a little something, I'd be willing to make it your best."

" _Excuse me?"_

"Well, you want your first kiss to be something worth remembering right? I can _make_ it worth remembering for a little… donation" Nero said, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together.

"Don't be ridiculous," Louise said, pompously. "I _don't_ want this kiss to be something I remember. In fact I plan to forget it as soon as I can, so let's just get it over and done with."

"Fine," Nero said sullenly. "But don't blame me when your children ask you about your first kiss and you have to tell-" Nero didn't get to finish his pitch before Louise simply jammed her lips onto his and drew away almost as quickly.

"There. The contract is sealed," Louise said, drawing the back of her hand across her lips.

" _How romantic_ ," Nero droned out drily, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Add some roses and a candle-lit dinner and it might be as romantic as a-Agggh!" Whatever Nero was going to say next only he would know as a burning pain travelled up and down his body, seeming to originate from his left hand.

"Don't be a baby," Louise said crossing her arms and turning away like a man burning up was no big deal. "It's just the familiar runes engraving themselves onto you."

"You're… branding me?" Nero ground out. "You… little… bitch."

"How _dare_ you!?" Louise shrieked, whirling around. "That'll earn you a lashing after this is over."

"The hell it will." The pain from the branding ended after what felt like an hour but was in actuality likely little more than a minute. "I'll bear this for the rest of my life, so I think my life debt to you has been paid off."

"I don't think so," Louise said, crossing his arms. "A life-debt entails that you owe me your life. By becoming my familiar you have given it to me and so, in essence, I _own_ you."

Nero took a moment to process this and narrowed his eyes angrily. "I don't know who the hell you think you are but slavery has been banned in every kingdom for decades."

"I know," Louise said, smirking smugly. "But you are not a slave, you are a _familiar_ , ergo it is allowed."

"That's just a bullshit technicality!" Nero ranted. "No court will let you off on that!"

"Court? You make it sound like this is a legal issue."

"IT IS!"

"No, it's not. Human or not you have been bound as my familiar and as such, that is all the court will see you as."

"I don't know what you think of your kingdoms judicial system, you little _brat,_ but I assure you the Kingdom of Vale will take my side."

"Huh? Vale? This is the Kingdom of Tristain. I've never even heard of Vale."

"Huh? Tristain? Never heard of Vale? You're not making any sense. Vale is one of only four kingdoms on all of Remnant and Tristain most certainly is _not,"_ Nero told her.

"Remnant? Remnant of what?"

"Are you serious!? What the hell is wrong with you? I don't have time for your dumb jokes!"

"What is going on over here?" Both Nero and Louise turned to the newcomer as they spoke.

"Professor Colbert, my familiar is being difficult, can you tell it to shut up?" She asked crossing her arms and glaring at Nero

"You're a Professor? Can you tell my _master_ to stop being such a brat?" Nero asked, returning Louise's glare.

"How about _both_ of you stop talking and _both_ of you stop acting like children?" Colbert ordered, rapping both of them on the head with his staff. "Now, I'll ask again. What is the problem?"

"It's/She's not making any sense," they echoed.

"*Sigh* Can you be a little more specific?" Colbert asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

" _It_ seems to think it's too good to be my familiar," Louise said.

"And _she_ seems to think having me as her familiar is a right rather than a privilege," Nero complained.

"Is that what this is about?" Colbert asked. When the two nodded he turned towards Nero and laid down the bad news. "Well, I'm sorry to say young man, but she's right. As a noble she is entitled to indenture you as her worker until she sees fit to let you go. And I'm afraid to say, but as a commoner, there is little you can do about it."

" _Come on!_ What kind of archaic class system do you think you're using? This isn't the dark ages, we have rights and rules now, you can't just force me into servitude!" Nero exclaimed.

"Perhaps not where you're from, but here in Tristain we have our own rules." This time it was Louise shooting down Nero's arguments.

"Tristain's not a real kingdom!" Nero continued. "The only kingdoms on Remnant are Vale, Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo!"

"Perhaps on Remnant. But this is the continent of _Halkeginia_ ," Louise said, emphasising her correctness by slapping the back of her hand into her palm. "Here the rules are different and they say that I _can_ force you to be nothing more than an _animal."_

 _"Grrr…"_ Nero growled as he curled his fingers ready to wring the little brat's neck, life-debt or no. "Wat a minute. Continent? Remnant isn't a _continent_ it's the name of the planet. And Halkeginia even isn't a continent either."

"Planet?" Colbert asked, unfamiliar with the term. "What's that?"

"Are you serious, dude? A planet is a _world_. You know, like _the_ world?"

"You call your world Remnant?" Colbert questioned, quirking a brow inquisitively.

"Yeah, we have for centuries."

"Our world is called Alfhiem." And with that bombshell everything started to make sense. _These people were all insane!_

" _You're all nuts!_ " Nero exclaimed running off towards the forest. "I'm outta here!"

"Hey, get back here!" Louise cried. "Hey! Someone help me catch him!" She yelled ordering her fellow class mates to help her.

None of them did, however. They were all too busy dealing with their own problems. The adrenaline of the fight they had just survived was wearing down and they suddenly felt too tired to do much more than what they had to.

"Argh!" Louise screeched in frustration. "You're all useless!" With that she raised her wand and pointed it at her fleeing familiar, who seemed to be about to leap over the wall that acted as the outer boundary for the schools courtyard.

 ***BOOM***

With that, Nero was slammed face first into the brick wall, smooshed against it like a bug on a windshield

"Uugghh…" he groaned as he slowly slid from the wall, falling to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"Hmph," Louise preened. "I don't think he'll be waking up from that," Louise bragged, clapping her hands together as if she were clearing dust from her palms. "Now," She said turning back towards her classmates. "Who wants to help me carry him?"

After seeing what her explosion did to both her familiar and the wall it was slammed into, the class was a lot more willing to listen.

* * *

"Ugh…" Nero groaned as he rose up from his surprisingly comfortable bed. "Where am I?"

"Oh? You're awake?" Asked the stereotypical pretty nurse that was going about her business in the infirmary. "Just sit tight, I'll go get the professors and Lady Vallière."

"Right…" Nero droned as he brought a hand up to his head. "You do that." A few minutes later and the throbbing stopped, not a moment too soon as the door opened almost immediately after and three people entered.

"Hello young man," greeted the walking 'wise old wizard' stereotype. "I am Professor Osmond, headmaster of this fine academy, but you can just call me Old Osmond, everybody does."

"Okay," Nero said, wondering if he could get away with Calling Professor Ozpin 'Old Ozpin'. Probably not.

"You're probably wondering where you are," Old Osmond continued.

 _'Not really,'_ Nero thought quietly. What he actually said was, "Well, I think I can guess. Is this some sort of infirmary or something?"

"Yes, actually," Old Osmond continued. "You were brought here after you were *ahem* _injured."_

 _'Injured,'_ Nero scoffed silently to himself. _'Riiight'_. "What do you want?" He asked rather rudely.

"Well, Professor Colbert has informed me that you have some, let us say _disinclinations_ towards your occupation," Old Osmond went on, either not noticing the insult in Nero's voice or just ignoring. Nero figured it was probably the latter.

"Uhh… yeah," Nero said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, is there anything I can do to persuade you otherwise?"

"A bag full of money and ticket home would be nice."

"Well, the latter would sort of defeat the purpose but I'm sure if you try, you could negotiate for some sort of income with the Vallière family."

"Not on your life!" Louise interjected.

"*Sigh* Miss Vallière, please. If paying this boy, like you would any other servant, ensures both _his_ stay at this school and _yours_ , would it not be worth the investment?"

"Hmm… I have a better idea," Louise said, pretending to think it over. "How about he enters my service and I repay him by offering him food shelter and other basic amenities, _like any other familiar._ " At this Colbert felt the need to insert himself into the conversation.

"But it is rather clear that he is certainly not like any other familiar," Colbert said. "While he technically can't say no to being your familiar, that doesn't mean you can force him to be. Something tells me he would be more than willing, not to mention _capable_ , of running away, and you might not be able to stop him a second time."

"Pft. If he tries running away, my family would pour all of their resources into not only making sure that he returns but making sure that he _stays_."

"And besides," Louise continued gesturing towards all of the unconscious students, lying in the beds next to them. "Don't you owe me a life debt? _"_ Nero looked her dead in the eyes and, sad as he was to admit it, she had a point.

"Fine," he conceded. "I'll stay. But _only_ for as long as it take to pay my debt. After that you can kiss my ass goodbye."

"Ugh…" Louise shuddered at that mental image. "New rule: You watch your mouth whilst you are my familiar."

"Bite me."

" _Well_ ," Old Osmond interrupted. "Now that _that's_ settled, why don't you show your familiar where he'll be staying, Miss Vallière?"

"*Sigh* Fine. Come on familiar."

"One sec," Nero told her. "How are the students?" He asked, turning towards Colbert. "Are they…?"

"Well, most of them will make a full recovery…" Colbert answered, trailing off towards the end.

"But…?"

"Three have been put into a coma. We don't know when, or even if, they'll ever wake up. "

"Oh God," Nero said. "That's awful."

"Indeed," Colbert agreed, putting a hand on one of the boy's lithe shoulders. "But do not blame yourself. It was not your fault that monster was brought here and you did more than anyone could have asked of you by killing it."

"Sure…" Nero said, barely whispering and shrugging Colbert's hand off his shoulder as he lifted the covers and got of the bed. "Alright Louise, you win. Take me to my prison."

"If I get any more lip from you, I'll make sure your quarters really _are_ a prison," Louise warned him as she waited for him by the door.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Nero answered back, taking the door by the handle and closing it behind them.

"Well it looks like we're in for an interesting year, aren't we Jacque?" Old Osmond asked his long-time friend and employee.

"It's Jean! Have you seriously forgotten my name _again?"_ He asked.

" _Shhh!"_ Said Old Osmond, shushing Professor Colbert. "The students are _sleeping. Honestly_ Joseph _."_

 _"Grrr…"_ Now Colbert knew Osmond was just messing with him. "Wait. We didn't ask him about what he meant by coming from a world called Remnant."

"Didn't we?" Asked Old Osmond. "It must have slipped my mind," he said, dismissing the potentially world changing information with a shrug.

* * *

 _Fave, follow, review._


	4. Do You Know What Happens Now?

**_Do You Know What Happens Now?_**

* * *

"God, the place is _ancient_ ," Nero observed out loud, walking through the corridors of the castle.

"It's not _that_ old," Louise told him, rolling her eyes. "The castle itself has been here for generations but it gets renovated every few decades or so."

"That's not what I meant. *Sigh* I guess I really am in another world," Nero said. "The only places that are this low-tech are never around long enough for people to bother with."

"Low-tech?" Louise asked, the term sounding incredibly foreign to her.

"It means un-advanced," Nero elaborated.

"Oh," said Louise, understanding dawning on her features. "Hey, wait a minute," she said, stopping and turning around as understanding dawned on her. "This castle has all of the most advanced charms and enchantments money can buy, it doesn't get any more _high-tech_ than this."

"That's not what tech means, don't use words that you don't even understand."

"Hmmph," came Louise's pouty response.

"Cute," Nero said, taking his turn to roll his eyes. "So where am I staying, Shortcake?"

"Shortcake?" Louise asked in a low tone.

"Yeah," Nero said. "You know, like strawberry shortcake. Who knows, with a nickname that sweet maybe you can trick people into thinking the same of you."

"Who does this familiar think it is?" Louise growled, grinding her teeth together. "To talk to its master like this… Don't think I've forgotten how you called me a… a… _bitch_ … out in the courtyard."

Nero just raised an eyebrow at this. "You mean when you _branded me_ with a bunch of _nonsense_ that I'll be wearing for _the rest of my life_?"

"You should be proud to wear those runes," Louise huffed spinning back around and marching down the corridor with her hands on her hips. "Those mark you as not just _a_ familiar but _my_ familiar. Most peasants would _jump_ at the chance to brand themselves if it meant that they could join the Vallière household.

"You either have a very low opinion of peasants or a very high opinion of your family."

"Why wouldn't a member of the Vallière family have a low opinion of the peasants? We're above them, after all."

"Or maybe it's just both," Nero said, knowing without a doubt that it was both. "Jeez, with an ego that big, it's a wonder I have to look down at you."

"That's it," Louise said, an air of finality in her voice as she opened a door. "Get in." Noticing the tone in her voice but not recognizing its significance, Nero walked into the room after her.

"So Strawberry Shortcake," he said as he closed the door behind him. "This is my room, I…" Nero trailed off as he turned around and looked around the room seeing that it was incredibly likely that this was _not_ his room and was, in fact, somebody else's. "Don't… take it?"

"Oh no, it is," Louise assured him. "Or, at least, it will be," she continued as she reached into a drawer and pulled out-

"A riding crop?" Nero asked. "What do you plan on doing with that?"

"Didn't I say it already? Are you deaf or are you just stupid? Perhaps it's both?"

"… So the riding crop?" Nero said, just choosing to ignore her previous statement.

"Well, I was hoping I could let you off the hook for what you said in the courtyard but ever since, I have received nothing but lip and attitude from you and I think it's high time somebody taught you _manners_. It is clear your parents have failed to do so." At this, Nero's eyes narrowed and his rage felt almost palpable.

" _You don't get to talk about my parents,_ _ **brat**_ _¸ and you_ _ **definitely**_ _don't get to lecture me about manners,"_ Nero growled.

"How _dare-"_ Louise began.

 _"I'm not finished,"_ Nero went on cutting off his ' _master'_. _"You may have saved my life when you summoned me here and I was more than willing to pay you back for that, but_ _ **branding**_ _me like some sort of_ _ **animal**_ _? Making me your_ _ **slave**_ _? When my debt is settled, you'd better hope you never see me again."_

"Th-th-that's it. You get 50 lashes, _Dog_ , so take off your shirt and turn around or else I'll make the punishment worse." Though she managed to make herself _look_ angry and indignant, Nero could smell her fear.

" _Make. Me,_ " he snarled, spinning on his heal and walking through the door.

He didn't even bother opening it.

* * *

Louise gasped as she took a step back, dropping her riding crop in the process. Her familiar, _her peasant familiar,_ had just summoned some sort of magic circle and used it to _walk right through the door_. By the time she had picked her jaw up from off the floor and reached the door he was out of sight.

Deciding to save her questions for later she ran out the door and called after her familiar. "You damn _dog_! Get back here!" However before she could even reach the stairs, she froze in her tracks.

Another magic circle had been placed on the ground beneath her and it was keeping her completely stationary, even the awkward angle in which she had been caught at didn't cause her tip over.

 _Her familiar was a mage!_

* * *

"Why, I'd love to try your soufflés, Katie, I'm sure they're to die for."

"Really, Lord Guiche? You're not just making fun of me are you?"

"Of course not, Katie. Would these eyes ever lie to you?"

Nero quietly snorted as he walked past, temporarily pulling him from his darker thoughts. _'Do those pick-up lines actually work?'_ He thought to himself. _'If they do, then getting into these girls' rooms is going to be a cakewalk.'_

"Hey, you," said the blonde boy, Guiche, he believed the girl called him. "You're that commoner that the Zero summoned aren't you? What are you doing out here?"

"Ruining the romantic trysts of random students, it looks like," Nero replied, not slowing down in the slightest as he walked past. "But I'm bored of it now so I think I'll just let you get back to it."

"That is no way to- hey get back here!" Nero just waved back at them without even bothering to turn around.

"Well that's just rude," Guiche commented as he watched the black-clad boy walk away.

"Forget about him, Lord Guiche, let's just go back to _us_."

"Of course, Katie," Guiche replied, immediately pushing thoughts of the black-clad boy out of his head and pulling thoughts of Katie in their place.

Specifically, thoughts of what was under that first year uniform.

* * *

"It's like a dream to be spending the night with Kirche the Ardent," said the boy wearing the purple mantle of the third years.

"…"

Noticing her lack of response he tried to get her attention again. "Kirche?"

"Hmm?" Realizing she had been spacing out, Kirche brought herself back to the present. "Oh, Styx. I'm sorry, I was just thinking."

"Was it about what happened today?" he asked. "I heard some of your classmates are in comas now."

"Yes," Kirche confirmed. "That monster put three in a coma and sent five others to the infirmary."

"Such a tragedy," Styx said, shaking his head. "And it was the Vallière girl who summoned it right? They're definitely going to have to expel her for this."

"I doubt it," Kirche said. "Her parents _are_ the duke and duchess Vallière after all. And besides that, it wasn't _truly_ her fault to begin with, not to mention it was _her_ familiar that ended up killing the damn thing anyway."

"Ah yes, her familiar, the peasant boy right?"

"That's right," Kirche said, nodding her head, thoughts going to the mysterious boy from this morning. "He's... He's right there actually," she continued, pointing her finger at said familiar.

"Oh, that's him?" Styx said, scrutinizing the boy. "He's smaller than I thought he would be."

Nero didn't even spare them a glance as he walked past and through the grand doors of the entrance hall.

* * *

"Sheesh, what is it with the students in this school and their late night romantic trysts? _"_ Nero muttered to himself. "It's like they've never heard of keeping it in their pants."

Taking a big whiff of the crisp, clean air, Nero scanned his surroundings and saw that there was nobody out there. Looking up, Nero scanned the stars to get an idea of where he was and how he could get back to Beacon.

Then he looked closer.

"Huh. When did the rest of the moon clump together to form another moon?" He asked nobody in particular. Then he thought about it. "Wait. Can that happen? And how would the moons change from white to pink and blue?"

Trying to think about it rationally, Nero realized that he couldn't and slumped, realizing what that meant. "Shit. This really isn't Remnant. This is… This is… Way over my head." Upon realizing just how in over his head he was Nero lost control of his legs and sat down, his mind simply going blank.

"Welp. What do I do now?" Thinking about it some more, Nero stood up, deciding that some altitude would help clear his head.

Sliding off his shades and pulling his hood down, he reached behind his back and under his cloak, flicking a switch hidden at the bottom of his cuirass. Upon doing so, he heard the tell-tale sounds of its many gears and mechanisms turning in order to allow for an opening.

And through that opening came a pair of pure black wings.

Giving his wings a mighty flap, Nero rose off the ground and into the air. Flying higher and higher, Nero decided that once he was high enough, he would relax by coasting back down, one of his favourite pastimes.

Or at least that was the plan, before he heard the adorable sound of a creature going _'kyuuuuu!'_

Quickly spinning in mid-air, Nero used his sharp, faunus enhanced vision to spy a girl and her dragon lying on the very top of the schools roof. The dragon was curled around the pole sticking out of the roof and a blue-haired girl was lying on top of the dragon, using the pole as a backrest.

Both girl and dragon were staring at him with widened eyes and shock adorning their faces. With his eyes, sharper than any humans, he could even see the way the bluenettes mouth was just slightly ajar and how she whirled her staff around slightly.

Why she did that was beyond him but he didn't dwell on it. Sending her a smirk she had no way of seeing, he craned his neck upwards and flew higher to go ahead with the rest of his plan. He hadn't planned on someone finding out about his faunus heritage but he doubted it would mean much.

After all, there was no way she could have seen him and even if she had, what would it matter? Everyone already thought of him as an animal anyways.

* * *

Cancelling her far sight spell, Tabitha placed her staff back down and thought deeply. When she had seen the silhouette of a man with wings flying through the night sky, she had thought she had seen one of the Winged Men, a rare and endangered species of, well, winged men.

Upon closer inspection, however, she had seen that the wings were black as night and the eyes were a sickly yellow.

"What was that, nee-sama?"

A good question. One that would need answering.

Riiight after she finished this chapter.

 _*groooowwwlll*_

"Nee-sama, I'm hungry."

"*Sigh*"

* * *

Nero looked down at the world beneath him. From this high even his eyesight made everything look like vague dots on a TV with poor reception. Despite that, he could still see for miles and in the distance he spotted a city. Well, it was more of a large town by his standards but it would be unfair to judge this place by his standards.

Deciding he needed to stretch his wings, Nero gave them another flap and flew towards the lights in the distance.

Shortcake could go a night without his stellar company.

* * *

 _"Where is he?"_

Guiche looked back as he heard the angry cry of a certain Zero he knew. "What is it now Louise? It's very late."

"My familiar," she said, frustrated. "It ran away and it might be a mage and I don't know where it is."

Guiche chuckled at her predicament. "Oh Zero, only you could- Wait. What was that?"

"I said I don't know where it is and I need your help finding it," Louise said, running towards the next flight of stairs.

"No, I mean before that."

"It ran away! Happy now?" Louise snapped, angry at having to be reminded that her familiar had run away, something that shouldn't be possible given the compulsion effect of the runes.

"No, after that!"

Louise slowed as she tried to remember. "It might be a mage?"

"Who might be a mage?"

* * *

Kirche and Styx talked some more about the strange boy that was Louise de La Vallière's familiar. Or at least Kirche did. Styx looked like he would rather talk about anything else but persevered for the sake of getting into her panties. Kirche either didn't notice or didn't care as she went on and on about possible theories on who he might be.

Then they both heard some footsteps, accompanied by some voices, coming down the stairs. Considering the lateness of the hour, they were both curious as to who the voices might be.

"It might be a mage?"

"Who might be a mage?" Kirche asked from across the entrance hall.

"Her familiar!" Cried Guiche

 _"Shh!"_ Louise hushed, bringing a finger up to her lips. _"_ Do you want the whole school to find out? _"_

"I believe that is the least of your concerns, Zero," Guiche informed her. "Just think of what might happen if his _family_ finds out. Even _your_ family would have to face the penalties for something like that"

"Would you slow down?" Kirche asked, getting up and following the two. She noticed a brown haired girl also trailing behind them but she looked so confused she paid her no mind. "What's going on? How might that boy be a mage?"

"We had an argument and he walked out the door," said Louise, approaching the door that lead from the entrance to the courtyard.

"Seriously?" Kirche said flatly. "You think he's a mage because he walked out a door? There's nothing special about that, we're doing it right now!"

"No, not like that!" Louise protested. "Like, he didn't even open the door when he walked through it. And he summoned some sort of magic circle."

"Magic circle? That's impossible, rune based magic died out millennia ago," Kirche reminded her. "The only thing rune magic is used for nowadays is binding our familiars."

"I know that!" Louise insisted. "But I know what I saw! He definitely used some sort of magic circle to walk through that door!"

"Well did you at least see what kind of magic circle it was?" Guiche asked.

"Well, no…" Louise admitted. "It was standing in front of me so all I could really see was the edge."

Kirche and Guiche looked at each other and shrugged. "If you say so, Louise," they chorused.

"Good," Louise said, satisfied that they had agreed that she was correct and all was right in the world. "Now we just have to find my familiar." At that she brought a hand to her brow, despite it not nearly being bright enough to warrant doing so, and looked around. "It couldn't have gotten far."

"*Sigh* I wish Tabitha were here. Then we could just ask her to use far sight," Kirche lamented.

"Don't either of you know it?" Louise asked.

"No," Guiche said. "As an earth mage, air magic is not my specialty."

"Nor mine I'm afraid," Kirche said, shrugging.

"Um. I'm an air mage," Katie chimed in. "I could use it if you like."

"That would be appreciated," Louise told the girl.

"Okay, here goes." The girl brought out her wand and started chanting. Upon finishing her chant she started looking around.

"Well?" Louise asked impatiently. "Do you see it?"

"Umm…"

"Give her some time, Zero," Guiche admonished. "You're just lucky that my dear Katie was here to begin with."

"And why _is_ she here, Guiche?" Louise said, not really asking as she turned to face Guiche. "Does Montmorency know you're here with her?"

"*Cough* *Cough* Uhh… What? I don't know what you're-"

"Lord Guiche, who's Montmorency?" asked Katie, also turning around to face Guiche.

"Uhhh… Oh, look at that," Guiche said, pointing towards the sky. "Something else!"

Styx snorted in the background. "Nice save, lady killer."

"Shut-"

"Tabitha!" Kirche cried, running forward as her friends dragon landed on the ground. "Listen, we think Vallière's familiar might be a mage but he ran away so we need someone to find him."

"Late."

"I know, but it would really mean a lot to me if you found him," Kirche implored.

"Why?"

"Why? Because… Because… He's Vallière's familiar! She needs him!"

Tabitha stared flatly between the two. Their family feud was well known throughout the academy. "Rivals."

"Ummm…" Kirche response to this consisted of a strained smile and a bead of sweat.

"Seduce." Tabitha accused pointing her finger at Kirche.

"Nonsense! I do not have a thing for Vallière's familiar!" Kirche objected. " _Especially not with Styx here(!)"_ She muttered angrily, while bringing a hand up to the corner of her lips.

"*Sigh*" Tabitha, deciding that it was easier to comply than argue, simply cast her far sight spell. "Nothing."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should look harder," Louise persisted.

"Vallière, if Tabitha doesn't see your familiar, then it's because your familiar isn't here," Kirche chided.

Louise sighed and turned back around to the dorms entrance. "Very well. It's not like I didn't anticipate this. I'll have a letter out to my family by morning. He'll be back by the end of the week."

"If you say so Vallière," Kirche said, shrugging. "It's a shame too, I was really looking forward to seeing more of him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Styx interjected.

"Oh, nothing," Kirche said, chuckling and waving her hand dismissively. "So anyways- Hey! Where did everybody go?" Sure enough, everybody else had left without saying so much as a word and Kirche was left alone with a glaring Styx. _"Traitors."_

* * *

Nero landed on the roof of some building with a slight _whoosh_ and looked around the city. "Sheesh. This place is a dump." A little harsh but not far off the mark. All around were simple, dilapidated buildings and dirty, narrow roads. Nero had seen independent villages that looked prettier than this.

Then he looked again. It was only around the outskirts of the city that the buildings looked this bad. Deeper in, the conditions looked much better. "Oh, this is just the slums," Nero said, realising just where he was. "Great. The perfect place to start."

With that, Nero folded his wings, packing them back into his cuirass, a routine that was both annoying and uncomfortable but a habit that he had long since grown used to. After stowing away his wings, he stepped off the roof and onto the street below. "Now, where to begin?" He muttered to himself. "Meh." Shrugging to himself, he simply picked a direction and started walking.

* * *

 _'What is he up to?'_ Tabitha thought to herself, peeking around the corner of the alleyway she had landed in.

"Kyu," Sylphid cooed, nudging her slightly.

 _"Sh."_ Sylphid nodded in understanding. Tabitha had just reaffirmed her command for her not to talk whilst they were in front of others. Recognizing Sylphid's acknowledgment, Tabitha turned back to her target. He seemed to be inspecting the surrounding buildings. Or rather, certain buildings.

He only ever seemed to examine buildings that met some sort of criteria, if the way he looked and shook his head at buildings he ignored were any indication. He kept doing this all the way up the street but once he reached the end he looked left and right, up and down the intersection and sighed.

He walked back down the street and down another alley. Not wanting to lose her target, Tabitha walked across the street and crept to the corner Vallière's familiar had walked into. Slinking her head around the corner, she looked in and saw…

Nothing. He'd disappeared. Tabitha quickly scanned the alley and turned around. It was unlikely that he had somehow walked past her without her noticing but not impossible. Then, remembering his wings, she looked up to see if he had flown away. However, rather than the winged silhouette she was expecting to see, she instead saw some sort of flying golem.

Quickly casting far sight again, she took a closer look. It certainly appeared to be some sort of golem but she couldn't tell what it was doing here. Perhaps it belonged to _him?_ Considering she had just lost him, she decided to observe the strange golem, following it with her eyes as it flew high. It quickly spun 360 degrees and flew back down.

Down to the building she was standing behind. What was that about? Was it taking some sort of scan? She hadn't sensed any magic from it, besides what she assumed was its magic propulsion, so what could it have been for?

Then, she felt a hand grab her shoulder from behind. "Hello, madam. May I ask what you are doing in a place such as this?" Whirling around and poising her staff for and attack she looked at the man who had managed to sneak up on her. _On Her!_

 _She'd been had!_ Was it that golem she saw before? Most likely. _How had he managed to catch her unawares?_ Was he trained to? Also likely. However, now was not the time for hypothesizing. She had to come up with an excuse he would buy and quickly. "Shopping."

"In a rundown residential area?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"On the way," she replied, pointing her staff to the richer parts of town.

"This late at night?" he prompted.

"Avoiding rush hour."

"And that's worth sneaking out of school?"

"…"

"What are you really here for?" He asked, sighing.

"Shopping," Tabitha insisted.

"Really?" He asked, crossing he arms and raising his eyebrow again. Tabitha gave a quick nod. "Then what were you shopping for that you needed so urgently?"

Tabitha, once again, thought of something to excuse her actions. What could she need that he would actually believe she would go shopping for this late? "…Clothes."

"Seriously?"

"…"

"*Sigh* Well, don't let me get in your way, madam. I'll just be on my way." With that, he turned around and walked down the street, seemingly fiddling with his hood. Tabitha watched him go but dared not follow lest she raise his suspicions even more.

Deciding that she would have to conclude her investigation of him for now, she turned back to the alley she'd stashed Sylphid and made her way back to the academy. Though her investigation of _him_ would have to stop here for now, he wasn't the only lead she had. If she was right about him, there were numerous books she could go through to try and find another lead.

She would uncover his secrets. It was just a matter of time.

* * *

Meanwhile, a fair distance away, Louise slept as all good little boys and girls did at this hour. However, her sleep was far from the peaceful kind. Her sleep was riddled with death and darkness, the kind that drowned you when you weren't ready for it.

And Louise was _so_ not ready for it. Never before had she faced something like this. Nothing could have prepared her for evil given form, malevolence brought to life.

So it came as no surprise to her to her that the epitome of sin and wickedness, the very creature that came to everyone's mind when they were asked to name evil, showed up in her dream.

What _did_ surprise her was the fact that she did not fear it. In fact, it almost seemed to give off a sort of warmth and protective Aura that she could not help but find herself drawn to. It felt like it was protecting her, standing before the monsters like the leader of angels it once was.

She stood in awe of the majestic, obsidian wings that sprung from its bare back and though she couldn't see its features, hidden by the darkness, she _could_ see its eyes, which somehow seemed to glow with the same color and warmth as the sun. There was no doubt about it. The creature standing between her and those monsters was the monster everyone in Halkeginia feared and reviled.

 _The Ash of the Void_.

* * *

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